As with everything in life, it’s a good to establish goals. We all require some direction and purpose and whether it’s personal or professional, having a purpose can help in defining who we are. I would say I’m in the infancy stage when it comes to being satisfied with the quality of my photography work. If you’ve ever felt you’ve found something you didn’t know was lost and have now found a deep connection to it I would say for me it’s a camera.

I love photographing as much as you do but I’ll admit I haven’t defined a visible pathway to get me where I might want to be as a photographer largely because I haven’t set specific goals that I want to accomplish so that I can grow more.

What got me seriously thinking about goal setting are these candid words from Chris in this blog post -

Let me ask you, when was the last time you thought about your goals as a photographer? Lots of us keep going out and shooting the same pictures over and over—you know the ones I’m talking about. Nice shot the first few times you got it, but after a few hundred, even you’re tired of seeing it! How does that happen? You get good at a certain type of photography and keep on going out and finding that shot again. This is a signal that it’s time to tune up your skills, or turn your shooting on its head and do something totally different.

If you can relate to the statement that we’re in the same boat. Tiffany Joyce has written 20 persuasive photographic goals for 2011 that I won’t mine fulfilling myself because they’re that darn good and universal to whomever has the interest to elevate themselves as a photographer. Among the most prominent ones for me are:

Take a photography class or workshop.

Get into flash photography.

Plan and organize a neighborhood photo walk.

Throughly research and learn a skill you don’t currently posses.

Set a goal to read a certain number of photography-oriented books.

Rent and learn to use different types of photography equipment (lenses, lights, specialized gear, even different camera models). You don’t need to wait until you can afford to buy it!